Wednesday 16 August 2006

'TransGeneration': Do Ask, Do Tell

Four College Students, 'Switching More than Their Majors,' Answer Your Questions



Think college was hard for you? Ha.

Try being a student while having to balance books, grades, boyfriends/girlfriends and, oh yeah, transitioning from one sex to another -- while cameras follow you around school documenting the whole thing.

The incredibly moving, funny and very well done 'TransGeneration' led us on a campus romp earlier this year as we followed four students on their respective journeys to become who they really are.

Now, a forum has launched on the Sundance Channel site where you can post a question for any or all of the show's fabulous foursome, Raci, Gabby, Lucas and T.J. Starting next week, the cast will be online to post responses.

The message board is one of several new online enhancements Sundance is launching for the show as it gears up to air a 'TransGeneration Reunion' on August 28. The reunion will catch back up with the cast to find out what they've been up to since last we saw them.

So, if you have a burning query for a cast member, or just have a question about the transgender experience in general that you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask, here's your chance: Click here to post a question.


Side Note: 'TransGeneration' won a GLAAD award this year for Best Documentary. Here's some footage of the cast accepting. [Warning: Kleenex moment ahead.]

 


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

They must have a very difficult time going through such a traumatic physical and psychological transformation in the hormone rich atmosphere of college.  I can't imagine what that must be like.  I know that it isn't anything like being Gay though and it always puzzles me that Gay and Transgender are so frequently and easily dovetailed in marketing and media.  It just doesn't make sense to me.  I think that having a gender dismorphic disorder or whatever the correct term for it is would be more akin to the people that feel the compulsion towards body modification at least physically.  There seems to be a disconnect however in a logic that would equate persons wishing to remove their genitals and have surgically created opposites take their place with people who enjoy the genitals they have and like being with people that have more of the same.

Somehow this has the echo of the old beliefs that homosexuals had their genitals reversed, men in the throat instead of the groin or that it is a mental condition that can be cured with medical treatment like they espoused in the 40's and 50's.  Maybe I am just missing the connection.  I have friends that are transgender and I have friends that are Transsexual.  The differences are apparent to anyone that knows them.  However it is a positive step for there to be respectful representations of every group and community in the media.  Hopefully, over time, the fear of the unfamiliar will fade from the mainstream and there will be greater acceptance of all forms of diversity.

Robert
http://journals.aol.com/cowboyxxv/fromtoptobottom/